Devotionals

DEVOTIONALS FROM OBADIAH By Henry Jaegers WATCH YOUR BACK!

by Henry Jaegers
04/03/20
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DEVOTIONALS FROM OBADIAH

By Henry Jaegers

WATCH YOUR BACK!

All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; that they eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him. (Obadiah 1:7)

This statement is more than a warning. It is a declaration that is taking place because Edom refuses to deal with the problem of pride. Pride is always a problem. It keeps us from being able to see clearly and is missing a very important item called "discernment". There is an enemy within that often takes us by surprise because we lack understanding.

You would think that the Edomites might have learned from the problem when Balaam (The prophet for hire) taught the enemies of God how to overthrow God's people. He could not curse them from without, so he taught them how to destroy themselves from within. In the book of Revelation, in writing to the church at Pergamum they were warned about holding to the "doctrine of Balaam.” They were entertaining an enemy that was going to destroy them from within.

Now, God is explaining to them the destruction that is about to happen because they lack understanding and failed to discern the wickedness and selfishness of all men in common.

When Jeremiah said, "the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?" I wonder how many of us realize that this is true of everyone including those who claim to be faithful followers of Christ. When we choose to live our lives in the flesh, we lack the understanding of all who choose to live like that.

I am reminded in John chapter 2 after Jesus cleansed the temple, a statement was made that we should consider: "But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because of he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man" (John 2:24, 25.)

I do not mean that we must go around judging other people or question their motives, but we should judge our own. One of the problems in removing the mote from our brother's eye is the failure to recognize that there truly is a large beam in our own. That beam is the inner potential to commit wickedness that we are unable to understand what we are capable of doing.

This is the problem with Esau. Because he had this high opinion of himself, he thought that everyone was like him, but even with that, he was not entirely honest because he was true, a very wicked man. And if that was true of himself, how could he have the capacity to understand the pretense of those who were determined to destroy him?

What is the sum of all of this? The enemy from within was planning their move but because of his lack of discernment, he would eventually be destroyed by them. Are we honest about the degree of our potential for backsliding? If we are honest about ourselves, that is a good starting point to begin.